Aftermath: Awake My Soul
by Kem'Ajiana
Summary: Jem C. x Tessa G. - First pairing in my 'Aftermath' trilogy. The Battle of the Nephilim has finished, leaving few survivors and many more scars. Tessa and Jem are survivors and have returned to the former London Institute to prepare it as a safe-haven for orphans. Will Tessa overcome her fear of losing her loved one's? Rated M for sexual situations.


_Aftermath: Awake My Soul_

_By: Kem'Ajiana_

Series Summary: **Jem x Tessa**, Jace x Clary, and Simon x Izzy. The Battle of the Nephilim has passed, leaving few survivors and many scars. For three of our favorite couples, the aftermath serves as the perfect time to prove where their loyalties truly lie.

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Summary: _Jem C. x Tessa G._ - First pairing in my 'Aftermath' trilogy. The Battle of the Nephilim has finished, leaving few survivors and many more scars. Tessa and Jem are survivors and have returned to the former London Institute to prepare it as a safe-haven for orphans. Will Tessa overcome her fear of losing her loved one's? Rated M for sexual situations.

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1. **Jem Carstairs and Tessa Herondale-Gray **[Complete]

2. Jace Lightwood (Herondale) and Clary Fray (Morgenstern) [In Progress]

3. Simon Lewis and Isabelle Lightwood [In Progress]

* * *

_In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die. _

_Where you invest your love, you invest your life._

_- 'Awake My Soul' Mumford and Sons_

* * *

For Tessa, returning to the London Institute was a punch to the gut. The formerly grand Institute served as a harsh reminder of all that she had gained and lost: Will, Charlotte and Henry, children and grandchildren..._Jem_. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, trying to ease her mind. She was here for a reason, a task handed down by the Clave.

The Battle of the Nephilim, as it was now known as, lead by the infamous son of Valentine Morgenstern, had torn Idris apart, leaving it a shell of its former self. Dozens of families were annihilated, many more left with a single child to bear the family name. Her own great-great-_great_ grandson, Jace, was one of those children, along with his adoptive sister, Isabelle. She had never imagined that she'd live to see the near-complete destruction of her family line. She prayed each night that Jonathan Herondale would not be the last, and would pass on his name to others.

A soft hand lay on her shoulder, jolting her from her reveries, and she turned to gaze up at the face of her beloved Jem. So long ago, she had thought she'd lost him forever. For a century and a half, she had carried on believing that he would remain forever as Brother Zacharaia, never entertaining the thought that, someday, he would return to her as he should be. As James Carstairs. But, here he was, all black hair and dark eyes...so unlike his former, silvery self. It was pleasing to know that he had been released from the grip of the drug, _Yin Feng, _which had sapped away his life a hundred years earlier, and that she would not lose him to such a thing.

She reached up with tentative fingers to trace the outline of his strong jaw, mesmerized at just how his eyes danced in the witchlight. When she looked into those eyes, she looked into the eyes of her past. Her fingers danced across his chin, up to his lips, outlining them with her thumb, and she felt the hum of his words when he spoke.

"What are you thinking, Tessa?" he asked quietly, afraid to ruin her strange mood.

She smiled, shaking her head a bit and letting her hands drop back to her sides. "About how glad I am to have my Jem back at my side."

She stepped through the doorway, rolling up her sleeves as she went. She flicked the lights and they hesitantly blinked on, forcing her eyes to adjust a moment. The stairwell was in working order, at least, she told herself, but everything else...well, she and Jem would have a lot of work cut out for them before the next few months was out. She turned to beam up at him.

"Well," she said, planting her fists on her hips. "Are you ready to get started?"

Looking from Tessa to glare at his former home, he groaned inwardly. This was going to be a _long_ two months...

* * *

The first orphans to arrive were the two youngest children of the Holdaway family, Madison and Emma, and the son of the Lockwood's, Samuel. They held one-another's hands as they stood before Jem and Tessa, eyes wide. Madison was only eight, Emma twelve, and Luis thirteen, each with tears in their eyes and chins raised in defiance. They did not want to be here, of course, but the Clave had found it more prudent that they go to live in the London Children's Home. The former Institute (which had been moved to Cornwall) now served as a boarding house for those Nephilim children that had lost their parents, with Jem and Tessa as their guardians. The Clave had wanted the children close to Idris, but not so close as to be an obvious target, and they feared that some of the Uprising survivors would target the Institutes. Until things cooled down, Jem and Tessa would be their guardians and tutors, and when the children turned fifteen, they would go to live with an Institute somewhere in the world – Cornwall, New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Paris...

Tessa stooped down, brushing back her curly brown hair, and looked into the eyes of young Madison. "Hello, sweet child. I am Tessa," she murmured gently. "I am going to be taking care of you and your sister, and Mr. Lockwood. Will that be alright with you?"

A hundred years ago, she'd had children of her own, and she used what knowledge of them she had to befriend the youngest child. If she could get through to Madison, she'd get through to Emma and Samuel, too.

Madison blinked her doe-brown eyes, clutching her ragged, one-armed teddy bear closer to her chest, tucking her head behind her sister's back. Emma stood stalk-still, glaring into Tessa's eyes with an angry fire.

"We want to go home."

Jem sighed, touching Tessa's arm and shaking his head regretfully. "They just need time, Tess. It's only been a few months since...then."

The boy, Samuel, crossed his arms over his chest, and his shirt tugged down a bit, revealing the faded mark of...the parabatai. This child had lost his parents, whatever brothers or sisters he'd had, and his own parabatai. Jem frowned, tugging down the collar of his own shirt to show him his own faded mark, and Samuel let his shoulders droop.

Jem touched his shoulder. "The pain will pass, you know. No one will ever replace your parabatai, but you will learn to lean on others, and fight for them, just as fiercely."

For a moment, both boys stared at one another, and then, surprisingly, Samuel bent to pick up his bag and walked into the huge manor. Tessa watched as Emma and Madison followed after him, Emma tugging her sister's hand fiercely, and Tessa felt the first familiar stirrings of family in her heart...and it scared her to death.

* * *

"_Are you married?_"

Madison had asked the question over breakfast one morning so innocently that Tessa had nearly choked on her coffee, hastily wiping at the edges of her lips to cover her reaction.

"Well," she began, unsurely glancing at Jem across the table. "You see, Madison-"

Jem beat her to it. "We are engaged to be married, little one."

There was silence, Jem and Tessa staring across the table at one another in silence. James seemed so sure of himself, his dark eyes alight with mischief and love, while Tessa twisted her fingers in the cotton of her paper towel, shredding it.

"Tessa, dear, you're tearing up your napkin."

Emma and Sam dismissed themselves from the table, snatching up Madison – who had just turned nine – and disappearing from the kitchen. Once Tessa was sure that they were gone, she rose, collecting her half-full oatmeal dish and sweeping the scattered fragments of paper towel into it. She made her way to the sink, running the hot water over the bowl before letting it sink to the bottom of the water. She watched as little bubbles escaped from underneath it before turning to Jem, who still sat at the table watching her with his hands under his chin, drying her fingers on a towel.

She rubbed the bridge of her nose. "Why did you say that, James Carstairs?"

The man shrugged his shoulders, rising from his chair with his plate of finished eggs and toast. "It seemed most prudent at the moment." His eyes twinkled. "Unless you wanted to explain to them that, yes, we were engaged to marry – in _1878_ – but, I became a Silent Brother, so you married Will Herondale, and we were only recently reunited after nearly a century and a half." His dark eyes glowed.

She sighed, running a hand through her hair. "I suppose...we _are_ still technically engaged to be married, aren't we?"

Jem chuckled and shrugged. "Well, neither of us came out and said 'hey, let's forget about getting married.'" A frown flirted with his features. "But, if that is what you wish, I will not stand in your way. You deserve happiness after so long."

Just like that, Tessa was reminded of sitting in Jem's room, watching him draw his bow across his violin strings, his face relaxed in a way that made him seem younger, somehow. Of Will, laying on his deathbed, clinging to her youthful hand with his frail fingers as the music cascaded over the three of them, with no words spoken in those final moments of his life. Tears pricked her eyes, and she swiped at them angrily; the last time she'd cried – truly _cried_ – had been when she'd learned of the death of her son, James, in 1963.

But, with Jem, it was as if all those past memories she'd buried down so deeply inside of her were resurfacing.

She steeled herself, erecting that barrier she'd formed so many years ago, and took the dirty plate from Jem's hands. "I suppose you are right, Jem..." His face fell, and he turned to leave her. "But, I've waited so long to be with you again, and I won't let you go that easily."

The plate clattered to the ground, shattering, as he clutched her to him tightly, and her fingers clenched the back of his dark shirt tightly as a sob wracked her body. She felt a damp spot form on her shoulder and realized, quite suddenly, that Jem – her Jem – was crying, as well. Had he been waiting all this time to hear her say such a thing? Her tears flowed faster, and they held one another for a long while.

When he finally pulled away, grinning, and took a step back, he wiped furiously at his eyes, reaching into his pants pocket and pulling out a black box. He removed a slim silver ring and placed it gently in her palm.

"I have waited all these years to give this to you, Theresa Gray. I'd like to remain by your side, as your husband," he paused, watching her. "for as long as you'll have me."

_Until he died_. The words were unspoken, but implied.

Shaking like a leaf, feeling as if she had suddenly been thrust back into the mid-1800's, she slid the silver ring onto her ring-finger. It had been a once-familiar weight, having a ring on her finger, and she still kept her's and Will's rings together in her jewelry box. This weight, however, seemed much heavier, though the ring was smaller...because she knew what the eventual outcome would be: Jem's death.

Squaring her shoulders, she beamed up at him. "For as long as we have each other."

* * *

Wedding nights were always blissful, and Jem's and Tessa's was no different.

Holed up in a little cottage, which was situated in a snowy forest somewhere in France, they left a trail of clothing headed towards the bedroom: a tie, a glove, shoes and heels, a sock on a lampshade.

Jem bunched the fabric of Tessa's black dress at the hips, lips trailing down her neck to her collarbone. So long they had waited for this moment. When Tessa had confided in Jem her worst sin – having bedded Will on the night of Jem's presumed death – he had whispered to her that they would do it right this time. And right they had. For nine months, they had danced around all form of pleasurable activities, sometimes even a simple touch of the hand of kiss of the cheek, nearly driving them both mad with desire.

Now, however, after the vows had been said, the love rune, _Agape,_ drawn, and the reception finished...there were no barriers between them. No moral wrongness in their coupling.

Tessa fisted Jem's black hair in her hands, letting out a moan of desire as his tongue flicked over her collarbone, his fingers sliding over the outsides of her thighs. She worried hazily that they would not get the dress off in time.

The fire in their blood boiled to a peak as Jem slid her black panties down her legs slowly, oh, so slowly, reveling in the way she wriggled a bit in anticipation. He tossed them aside, grinning up at her from halfway beneath her skirt, before disappearing under it. His nimble fingers slid up the insides of her thighs, causing her to tremble in anticipation, and over her moist lips, before dancing away quickly. With his other hand, he massaged her rear, bringing her most private part closer to his mouth. His hot breath washed over her, and she groaned, thighs parting a bit more. One finger slipped into her core, coaxing her to open up more to his administrations, and her hips bucked a little.

The dress was rather constricting, and she fumbled with the zipper. She nearly ripped the dress from her body, looking down at what Jem was doing to her. Another finger joined the first, sliding in and out and hitting her most sensitive spots as he flicked his tongue over her pearl. She jerked, crying out as he suckled there.

"Jem!"

As her climax washed over her – quite suddenly – her husband slid up her body, kissing her navel and both breasts along the way, before he reached her mouth. She could taste herself on his tongue, a bit sweet like honey, and found it more enticing than she ever would have imagined. Pulling his head closer to her, she could feel his bare hips part her thighs and his manhood press into her thigh. Jem tucked his head into her neck as he positioned himself with his hand, sliding into her gently. He settled himself into the deepest part of her, stilling there.

Tessa was tight – tighter than he'd ever have thought after having two children – and it made his head swim with pleasure. How was he going to be expected to last when she was this heavenly?

Wriggling her hips, Jem grinned into her neck, returning to kiss her lips as he pulled out and thrust back in. Both moaned at the impact, the only other sound being the impact of flesh-on-flesh as he rocked harder and harder into her. Soon, he had Tessa crying out wantonly, raising her hips to meet his every thrust, and his fingers slipped between them to toy with her pearl.

Pleasure shot through her body and up her spine, straight to her head, as her second climax overcame her. Jem thrust more wildly, stilling above her when she felt his warm seed spill inside of her for the first time. He shuddered above her, sweat dripping from his bangs, and pulled her with him when he collapsed to the side, hugging her tightly to his chest.

They had wanted this for so long, and, now, they had it, and it pleased them to no end.

Tessa ran her fingers through his bangs, brushing them from his face, and smiled up at him. "I have something I want to show you, James Carstairs."

He grinned. "Whatever you want, Theresa Carstairs." A trill of pleasure raised the goosebumps on her arms at hearing his last name combined with hers. She was finally, after a hundred years wait, a _Carstairs_.

She reached over him, plucking his stele and a faded sheet of paper from the nightstand. She handed the paper to Jem. It featured a rune that Clary had created at the request of Magnus Bane with the words 'tie together' scribbled beneath it. Jem blinked up at her inquisitively.

"What does it do?"

Tessa cupped his cheek with her hand, stroking his lips with her thumb. "It's a rune used to tie two souls together. Clary created it for Magnus and Alec, since Magnus had wanted to grow old with him." She paused, remembering the way Magnus had mourned Alec. "If you administer it, I will grow old and age as you do. I will be _mortal_."

Jem blinked, reaching for the stele in her hand. "Have you thought this through, Tessa? Is this what _you_ want? Not for me, but for you." She continued to smile at him. "_Is this what you want_?" he asked again.

Lovingly, Tessa curled his fingers more tightly over his stele blade. "We've lived a hundred and fifty years. I've watched my children, grandchildren, and many others grow old and die. I've circled the world to see what it had to offer, and all I've found is that I want to be _human_. To be like _you_, and live with you. I don't want to live another lifetime without you."

Jem crashed his lips over hers, heart hammering as he pulled them both into a sitting position. He pulled her hand into his lap, palm up, and touched the stele to her skin. As he dragged the twig-like tool across her skin, it left behind an inky black pattern that resembled an infinity sign with a sweeping line that broke away into a cross.

When he finished, he set the stele aside gently and ran his fingers over the mark left on her skin, tracing the pattern. So simple, he thought to himself. He bowed his head, grateful to the God's that he and Tessa were together at last.

A hundred years late, but better than nothing at all.

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Author's Note: If you enjoyed this, please, click the little review button here at the bottom and leave me some input. I'd love to hear it! Also, be on the lookout for the other two 'Aftermath' stories!

-Kem'Ajiana


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